Itzulia Basque Country 2026 stage 1 preview, profiles, favourites & predictions - Paul Seixas and Primoz Roglic the main favourites for opening EXPLOSIVE time trial

From the 6th to the 11th of April, the peloton will travel to the Basque Country, one of cycling's holy regions, for Itzulia Basque Country. The six-day stage-race is always marked by the steep climbs, the narrow roads, unstable weather and passionate fans, which are never missing in one of the spring's highlights. We preview the stage 1, which is estimated to start and finish at 13:30 and 16:40CET.

The race was first held back in 1924 where Francis Pélissier took the first win. In 1935 Gino Bartali won an isolated edition and then for over 30 years the Itzulia was absent from the calendar. It wasn't until 1969 where there was a rebirth, and one with big shockwaves as none other than Jacques Anquetil won this edition.

Over the years many legends such as Luis Ocaña, Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, Tony Rominger, Alex Zulle and Laurent Jalabert have all won the Basque race. The amount of Spanish wins in this century hasn't dminished even in the previous years, with the following being victorious: Aitor Osa, Iban Mayo, José Ángel Gómez Marchante, Juan José Cobo, Alberto Contador (four times), Sámuel Sanchez, Joaquím Rodríguez, Alejandro Valverde, Ion Izagirre and most recently in 2024 Juan Ayuso.

We've also had Nairo Quintana take a breakthrough win in 2013 early in his career, Primoz Roglic (2018 and 2021), Daniel Martínez, in 2023 Jonas Vingegaard and in 2025 João Almeida who dominated the race throughout its mountain stages.

The race starts off as usual with a time trial and this one will be in Bilbao, perhaps the most important city in the region, for a stage that is also pretty important. It is 13.8 kilometers in length but it is a difficult ITT, very difficult.

The efforts starts with a 2.4 kilometer long climb which averages 7% right from the start line, and then the riders take on a very fast and slightly technical descent. There are only a few flat kilometers before the final 500-meter long ramp which takes the riders up to 9%, an explosive finish to an explosive time trial that is guided towards the GC riders straight away.

This is a day for the GC men and an important one too. Whilst the gaps may be much bigger, several of the race's stages are not overly difficult and whomever gets the leader's jersey is going to be a target regardless. But it is a day where you can win time on the competition, so there is no 'saving the legs'. It's an all-out effort for everyone, a climbing effort and then also it is important to remain upright in a race that has the reputation for its crashes as well unfortunately.

It is a very explosive and also rather short effort, ideal for someone like Primoz Roglic or also the likes of Brandon McNulty and Kévin Vauquelin, who are time trial specialists who may be able to ride as well as the main GC men on the opening climb of the day.

Paul Seixas put in a brilliant TT performance in the Algarve which raises questions on whether he's already taken THE step in the discipline that is required to take a big win, and he might have... But we need confirmation. Juan Ayuso has, but his form is questionable entering the race after his Paris-Nice crash.

We will have a battle between the GC men and of course we cannot forget the likes of Isaac del Toro and Florian Lipowitz who are big contenders to win the final overall classification; and other men such as Mattias Skjelmose and Antonio Tiberi who also have a pretty ideal combination of time trialing and climbing ability which can take them to victory here on a good day.

*** Primoz Roglic, Kévin Vauquelin, Paul Seixas

** Isaac del Toro, Ion Izagirre, Mattias Skjelmose, Juan Ayuso, Brandon McNulty

* Florian Lipowitz, Pello Bilbao, Tobias Johannessen, Harold Tejada, Ilan van Wilder, Antonio Tiberi, Bruno Armirail, Ben Tulett, Harry Sweeny

Pick: Primoz Roglic